The honeycomb of relief holes perforating the lateral (little-toe) wall of the X2 remains its most distinctive design feature, and at race speeds on World Cup ice, it may indeed introduce enough give to make managing the inside ski a little easier. On April snow at Vail, testers could only agree that it looks cool and that Salomon's full-blown plug boot is among the best in the category-holes or no holes. The hardware and overall finish are what you'd expect from a Salomon boot, and while the X2 packs all the power and quickness of a real race boot, the initial fit isn't utterly hopeless. Testers say: "It could be an everyday boot."